Talk:Introduction to Freeciv
Under "winning strategy" it's said that most-multiplayer games are played using set generator 2 and that it creates one island for every player. Am I wrong, or should this be generator 3? After a respectable wait (and time to figure out some things) I have written a new intro section. It would be particularly useful for experienced players to check for accuracy and for all players to note (or just correct) places that are not so clear. Vagabundus 03:41, 26 May 2007 (UTC) Great. Since this is an introduction, I think it should be briefer. Your entire text could be put on a separate text, and the most important points should remain. It is also so that the freeciv client is made to make it easy for players to start and join games, it should not be neccessary t explain about client/server (in detail) or further inner workings of the game, just to be able to start.. 83.233.144.116 10:10, 26 May 2007 (UTC) Brand newcomer suggestions This is literally my first time spent with Freeciv. I like what I see so far and expect to enjoy the game for years ahead. I will take the introduction instructions (that I read somewhere) to heart and boldly make suggestions about the things that are confusing to me, or that I believe could be confusing to a relatively competent computer user who comes to this site to learn about how to play the game. The order is mostly to help discussion, if there is any. I hope this isn't one of "those" wikis where there is no "wikiness" because the informed participants have all gone away (to play the game, for example). Nonetheless since this is costing me little to make these suggestions, here goes. (1) It would be nice, coming to the site for the first time, to be met with a "Start here" page, that then progressed through the basics (including how to find a game, some basics to avoid unintentional offense, the basics of game play and a couple of strategies. I find these parts separately, but it took me some blundering around. Perhaps I was "tuned into" a different linguistic frame of mind, but whatever the reason, I really missed a continuing thread--perhaps even one with some disambiguation points: For network play, for solo play, to find out more about the game rules, to learn about this community, for the press, etc.) Maybe even a "blogger friendly" couple of paragraphs early on. It struck me (partly in reaction to the beige-on-more-beige page design) that a color-coded and shape delimited "beginners' trail might be cool. Something like a "yellow brick road." (But please, please don't use that specific phrase. . .it's been done!) (2) In concert with the first point, I would suggest a consistent pattern for the "more" buttons on the bottom of each page. Many of the pages have a nifty little button, some do not. (3) I might have been raised by luddite monkey-boys and dingo-girls but I am thoroughly stumped by: --start quote-- To start a multi-player game, type civclient in a shell; alternatively select the Freeciv shortcut from your Start menu/Dock/Applications menu. --end quote-- (a) I'm not sure just what "shell" you are referring to. I am primarily a Windows user, and the only time I can recall hearing that term was in reference to an alternative to the standard Windows GUI interface. (as in, something like "enter the shell address in the Shell= field--where we used to enter "Xtree.com", then begin by starting up command.com") It might be that most people would know this, but it is worth asking about. It is kinda off-puting to not understand the first sentence. (b) As a Windows user (I am beginning to convert to Linux, but I hope it is not a pre-requisite to play--especially in that I downloaded a Windows-style .exe program to start the thing). The "Start Menu" that is a feature of Windows XP, at least, appears when you click on the "Start" button. . .seemed so strange when they first rolled out Windows, seems so logical now. . . When I open my start menu, I don't see anything even faintly resembling the shortcut I am supposed to be selecting. Don't know what a shell is, and don't have the right Start Menu, and I'm still on the first sentence! Perhaps I'm just not the target audience for this Wiki. If so, I am sorry. Just delete all this and move along. . . 3) If I am within the target audience, especially in that the paragraph specifically mentions "first time logging on" I really don't know what a "pubserve" is (a public server? are these similar to the "world servers" in other multi-player games? Seems strange in that in these other games there is a distinction between the free-to-play(ftp) servers and the pay-to-play(ptp) servers. But I thought this was an entirely ftp game. I know that there are probably lots of people here who despise the common rabble who have played Everquest, Runescape, WoW, etc. but if I have only experienced these games so far, how does this experience stack up--not in game quality, but in terms of what the ramifications might be of picking one world over another?) If it is a matter that pubservers are primarily for beginning players and the experienced players spend their time on by-invitation-only games (something like early Diablo online) how do you find your way into the ranks of the upper castes? Is there a way that experienced players can anonymously watch me play to see whether I am skilled enough to join a private game? Or do you accrue a certain number of rating points so that others can see how well you have played (or at least, how much "winning" you have done. . .)? Should I begin looking for players with compatible playing styles with a goal of creating my own private games? (4) and is a pre-game state one in which people are waiting for the roster to fill? How long should I expect to wait if I take this route? Or is a "pre-game" state something that has to do with generating the world? And would it be better for me to start with other rookies, or should I look for a game with some experienced players? How might I know? (5) What is a non-zero player? From context I would guess that it might be a pre-game world that already has someone signed up to play, but it might also be that there are levels of experience, and that I will be a "zero-level" player until I finish a game or play for a certain length of time, etc. This would make sense in that it probably wouldn't be very pretty for a bunch of people who have never played before all thrown into a game by themselves! "Can you do that?" "I guess so, I just did" "But is it allowed?" "It must be, I did it!" (6) and finally, for now (I really don't want to wear out my welcome) why would I want a computer enemy? I already have enough problems with my computers without looking for an overtly hostile status! More seriously, does this mean that "I" will be the "computer enemy", that is, that in order to join a game, I need to create a fanciful name for myself as the name of the ruler of my ficticious empire? Or does it mean that I should generate Artificial Intelligence (AI) computer-players to round out the roster? Or perhaps each player should create an AI player because things work better, somehow, if there is an equal number of players and non-players (AI)? I do realize that many of these questions will probably be answered in other pages somewhere else. Yet it does seem counter-productive to have an explicitly "to begin. . ." page that assumes a significant level of understanding of this game's particular culture before you can be an effective beginner. No one wants a bad first experience, I'm sure! Thank you, all, for preparing the soil and growing what promises to be a great game. Even though I won't be playing on-line for awhile (I'd rather make my most boneheaded beginner's mistakes in private, and don't want to be fodder for some testosterone-based life form who loves to stomp on new players. . . But if the game does turn out as I expect, and if I end up being able to make the time available to play it, I hope to see some of the authors of these Wiki pages in-game. Thank you. Vagabundus 10:32, 17 February 2007 (UTC) :I'm a recent Civ2 immigrant. Even though it's one day less than a year since your post, I'll answer (with limited authority) the questions that I can. For future reference, questions should probably be posted to http://forum.freeciv.org/index.php (as "wikiness" isn't supposed to include "forumness"). ::(4) Yes, I believe the pre-game is the period from when someone clicks Start New Game (in the current version, 2.1.3) to when all players are Ready and the game begins. ::(5) In computer programming, counting starts with 0 rather than 1; whereas people would ordinarily count "1, 2, 3,...," programs and (in an attempt to eliminate miscommunication) programmers count "0, 1, 2..." I think it's in this sense that a player would be "zero" (first) or "non-zero," i.e. the zero player is the one who initiated the game in the first place. (I don't think a skill-rating system has been established yet.) ::(6) Erm, I'm at a loss for what context this question was asked in. If it remains unanswered, you might try posting to the forum at the above URL.--Jesdisciple 23:06, 16 February 2008 (UTC) Isn't the goal of freeciv to either eliminate all of the other players or to get to the stars first? It probably shouldn't say that the goal is to build lots of cities. 71.111.50.97 :Yes it is. And I'm not sure what you're referring to. Perhaps it's this from How to Play? ::The name of the game is to tie down as many squares of land as possible building cities to expand one's territory. :I don't take this as the absolute/final goal of the game, but as the immediate goal inside the "Initial Expansion" phase.--Jesdisciple 23:06, 16 February 2008 (UTC) Wrong generator? The generator described in the Strategy section fits neither 2 or 3. I think it's more like 1. According to the manual, generator 1 tries to place one player per continent.